


The Wrong Name

by BarracudaHeart, CosmicTanzanite



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Based on the Theory we coined about Gyro's past, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Past Character Death, Psychological Trauma, Survivor Guilt, at leat gyro thinks so, takes place after "Who is Gizmoduck?" but before "Last Crash of the Sunchaser
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-10-04 03:33:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17296958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BarracudaHeart/pseuds/BarracudaHeart, https://archiveofourown.org/users/CosmicTanzanite/pseuds/CosmicTanzanite
Summary: Gyro knows exactly what the 'Gizmoduck' armor is capable of, and he could absolutely kick himself for letting Cabrera keep using it. If only that idiot would get it. And if only Gyro could actually explain himself.





	The Wrong Name

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there! So we've both been developing a pretty deep theory into the circumstances of Della's situation and just exactly why Gyro is 'wildly misunderstood'.

Fenton had been surprised, following the incident with ‘Waddleduck’, that Dr. Gearloose had even agreed to let him keep using the suit. Mr. McDuck must have been pretty convincing, but even then, Fenton wasn’t naive enough to not notice the disdain in the inventor’s expression as he stared at the suit in the duffle bag. 

He’d been even more surprised when out of nowhere, a few days later, Dr. Gearloose came back and almost confronted him with such a glare that Fenton wanted to sink his head into his body to hide. But the sudden question the chicken gave him had made him pause.

“Are you sure you want this? To be…” the name was unpleasant on his tongue, “Gizmoduck?”

“Of course I do!” Fenton had responded with utmost cheer and eagerness. “I’ve finally answered my calling.”

Gyro didn’t seem pleased with the answer. Nonetheless, he didn’t voice it, instead giving a flat response. “Fine.”

Before he left, he spoke some more. “I suppose before you use it again, I can make some adjustments to the armor for your own sake. We don’t want you being stupid and getting needlessly injured like this again.”

“Yeah,” Fenton had agreed, then chuckled, “but with my luck, I think that’s kind of inevitable, huh?”

Even if it was a joke, Gyro didn’t seem to find it at all funny. With a blank, unreadable face, he muttered that he would be expecting Fenton back at work within a few days and left the room immediately.

* * *

“Dr. Gearloose? What are you doing with my suit?”

There had been a long, tense stare of silence between the two as Fenton stepped out of the lab elevator, still wearing his coat. The minute the elevator had opened, he caught his boss- well, former boss before Mr. McDuck took over, in the middle of hauling the duffle bag containing his new suit out from behind his desk.

Gyro opened his beak to come up with an answer, but a word died in his throat, and he furrowed his brow in thought as he tried to replace it. 

Fenton paused to think, then gave a playful smile, waggling a finger. “Are you trying to do last minute adjustments again? You know you could have just asked.”

The chicken let out an irritable sigh and rubbed his forehead. “No...I’m...” He glanced to the side, then shook his head. “Look. I may not be your boss anymore, but this is still my invention, therefore my property. And if Mr. McDuck has an issue with it, he can take it up with a lawyer.”

“Wait...what are you saying?”

Gyro adjusted his glasses, an austere look on his face. “I wanted this suit destroyed weeks ago, and I haven’t changed my mind.”

Fenton couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Destroyed?! B-But you made it to work to my brain and-”

“To please our boss, yes. But I know exactly what this machine is capable of. I’ve seen what it’s done, and the only logical step at this point is to scrap it before it does any more damage.”

Turning on his heel, Gyro began walking to the boiler area of the lab where the incinerator was settled, but just as he made a few steps, a sharp tug on the duffle bag pulled him back. He flipped around to see Fenton with his hands on it, looking him directly into his eyes with a determined stare. The duck tightened his grip, furrowing his brows when he felt even the slightest movement from the other to take it away from him.   
  
“What are you doing?” Gyro asked. “Let go!”   
  
“No,” Fenton replied. “I’m not letting you do this.”   
  
“Wh-...you don’t have a say in this! Now, let go.” Gyro tugged for the duffle bag, but he proved to not be as strong as Fenton, who kept his iron grip on the object.   
  
“Why don’t I? The suit is controlled to my voice. Doesn’t that make it mine?”   
  
“You didn’t create it!”   
  
Fenton tugged harder, managing to get a bit more of the duffle bag free before Gyro held it closer. “But you created it for me!”   
  
“Not originally,” Gyro spat back. “You hijacked it before it was even ready!”   
  
“And it’s a good thing I did, huh? If you’d kept full control of it, the thing probably would’ve blown up before either of us had the chance to even test it!” He gave another hard tug, causing the chicken’s grip to slip ever so slightly due to the fact that he’d been so shocked by what was said to him.    
  
“H-How dare you! That is no way to speak to me, Cabrera,” Gyro said with a snarl, visibly getting tense from the accustion. “If you keep this up, I will report to Mr. McDuck immediately and tell him-”   
  
“And tell him what? That you destroyed something he asked you to create? I’m sure he’d love that.”    
  
Finally, Fenton gave the hardest tug he could muster and managed to free the bag containing the suit from Gyro. The force almost knocked him off his feet, but once he was balanced again, he immediately started to make a run for it, knowing the other would surely be hot on his trail. However, before he could make it to the elevator, there was a harsh voice behind him.   
  
“C-Cabrera, get back here! You don’t know what you’re doing!”   
  
Unable to resist the urge to stand up for himself, he turned around to meet Gyro’s angry stare with his own. “Yes I do!”   
  
“No, you don’t!” Fenton noticed that while it was still definitely frustrated, the inventor’s voice was starting to waver and sounded almost desperate.    
  
“Of course I do! What’s the matter with you-”   
  
“Nothing’s the matter with me!” Gyro was quick to defend himself. “Now. Give. Me. The. Suit.”   
  
“N-ahhh!”    
  
Gyro unexpectedly lunged at Fenton, making a frantic grab for the duffle bag once more. The two began to push against each other, one doing everything in his power to keep the object he held to himself and the other fighting as hard as he could to take it away.    
  
“Why are you doing this Gyro!?” Fenton asked between his panting, giving the other a particularly hard shove with the bag.   
  
“Because this armor is not suited for someone as stupid and reckless as you!” Gyro replied, grabbing the sleeve of Fenton’s shirt before the duck could run away. “You just landed yourself in the hospital trying to use it! Can’t you see this whole Gizmoduck thing is a bad idea?”   
  
The duck thought for only a few seconds on what the other said before tearing away from Gyro’s grasp, maintaining eye contact in an attempt to really reach him. “But it’s not! Dr. Gearloose, think of all the people I can help. Sure, there are going to be mishaps and malfunctions at the start, but I’ll learn from my experiences! I mean, with the thing synched up to my brain, it’s gotta-”   
  
“No!” Gyro cut him off, giving another desperate grab for the bag. “I am  _ not  _ letting this happen again!”

“You have to trust me. I can handle it! I could before!”

Gyro pulled harder at the bag, and almost wailed, “No you couldn’t,  _ Della _ !”   


Fenton let go of the bag in confusion, and took a step backward. “Huh?”

Breathless as he stumbled from getting full handling of the bag, a look of horror flashed in Gyro’s eyes as he realized his mistake. “I-I mean... _Cabrera_ _ … _ y-you can’t handle this okay? Please, just-”

The words died in Gyro’s throat and so did the effort to run. He made no move to continue his plan of destroying the suit, as evidenced by his slumped shoulders and despondent stare downwards at the floor. Fenton was immediately concerned, wondering if he’d found cause behind Gyro’s spike in erraticism beyond the norm.

“Who is Della?”

Gyro didn’t break from his trance, instead carefully letting the duffel bag sit on the floor in a sagged heap, mimicking his own posture. There was a long silence.

“Mr. McDuck’s niece…” the chicken answered hardly above a murmur, swallowing before he hoarsely added, “...and for several years, my friend.”   
  
“Friend?” His concern grew as he heard the other speak on the matter, and Fenton slowly began to step closer to the other. “You had a friend?”   
  
Gyro gave him a glare, causing the duck to realize that he hadn’t worded his last statement that wisely. He gave a nervous smile, and before he could apologize, Gyro spoke.    
  
“Don’t worry about it,” he grumbled, getting to his feet and wiping at his eyes as if he was trying his hardest not to let any tears slip from them. “It’s a long story.”   
  
As the other walked toward his desk, Fenton tried to think of a good response. He’d obviously just brought up memories that had been suppressed in the other’s head for a while, things he probably didn’t want to relive. But a part of Fenton knew that talking about stuff like this somehow made it better, and knowing Gyro, he’d probably kept it in ever since the day it happened.    
  
“I’ve got time,” he finally said, causing the other to stop in his tracks.   
  
Gyro looked behind him, adjusting his glasses and studying Fenton, as if deciding if he wanted to be the first person in who knows how long to hear whatever story he had to tell. Fenton expected him to decline, to go back to his work and keep his distance like he always did, but surprisingly, he turned away once more and spoke.    
  


“I knew Mr. McDuck and his family for years before I even worked for him,” Gyro admitted, beginning his story. “I spent a lot of time around them all as a child. Mostly Della. She was older than me, but I think she took a liking to hanging around a nerdy little kid like me.”

Fenton tried to picture what Gyro might have looked like as a child, but nothing exactly came to mind. 

“I didn’t go on adventures with the whole family often, but whenever I got the chance, it was always Della who invited me. We had some of our own adventures too, with whatever inventions I had made.” He gave a wistful snort. “There were lots of time traveling mishaps. And a deep sea diving trip in a prototype of a submarine I’d crafted in a single afternoon...”

The inventor was beginning to ramble, listing off various excursions and misadventures he’d gotten involved in with Della Duck, and Fenton realized there was more to Gyro than he’d ever expected.

“Did something happen to her?” Fenton suddenly asked, and immediately regretted it as he saw a sudden flash of pain flicker in Gyro’s gaze.

“Well...about ten years ago or so, not too long after I officially started working here as a scientist, Mr. McDuck asked me to help him build something that Della had designed herself. It was meant to be a gift to celebrate her triplets’ births,” Gyro recalled, staring at the floor. “A space rocket.  _ The Spear of Selene _ .”   
  
Fenton’s eyes grew wide in awe at the mention of a spaceship. He knew Gyro had made some pretty impressive things in the past, but he never expected something as complicated to create as a rocket would be among them.    
  
“Wow,” he breathed. “You made a rocket?”   
  
Gyro gave another deep sigh, bringing a hand up to nervously run against his neck. “Yes. I did. And it was going wonderfully.” His voice almost sounded wistful for a second. “At first, taking on a project like that seemed almost unheard of for me, but once I started, it’s like I couldn’t stop. I had so much drive for it and looked forward to working away on it every day! Oh, it was almost ready until….”    
  
The inventor’s voice trailed away, and it was almost as if Fenton could hear his enthusiasm drop and turn into something a lot more solemn. He noticed that Gyro was gulping, as if trying not to let his emotions get the better of him and had to straighten himself up a bit before continuing.   
  
“She took the rocket,” he continued, sounding rather grim. “She took it and tried to fly it before it was ready. There was a cosmic storm, and….”    
  
His voice trailed away, but he didn’t need to say anything else on the matter. Fenton could infer the rest. Although he couldn’t see Gyro’s face, just thinking about how his expression must be at that moment made the duck’s heart ache.    
  
“Oh, Gyro….I didn’t know,” he whispered, taking a step closer to the other. “I’m sorry that happened, but it’s not your fault. It’s just-”   
  
“No. It is.”   
  
Fenton didn’t expect the response, and it left him not knowing what to say for a few beats of silence. “B-But it’s really not! You didn’t know it would happen!”   
  
Gyro tensed up a little. “Cabrera, shut up right now-”   
  
“No! I’m not going to sit here and let you take the blame for something you couldn’t control.” The duck was walking closer to him now, determined to make his coworker feel as at ease as he possibly could about the situation. “You said yourself it wasn’t ready!”   
  
“I know, but-”   
  
“So it wasn’t your fault!” Fenton was now close enough to give Gyro a gentle pat on the shoulder, and he began to raise his hand to do so. “I know this has to be upsetting, but it is  _ not _ your doing in any shape form or-”   
  
“I told her.”

Fenton’s hand dropped. “...What?”

“I told her about the project before it was ready. It had been top secret, under Mr. McDuck’s orders, as a surprise for her.”

“Wh-Why would you-”

“I knew I shouldn’t have, but it was probably the most prolific project I had ever been put on, and I was so happy to be a part of it…”

Gyro’s eyes glittered in reminiscence as he gently rest his fingers over his beak. “Della got mad that I didn’t tell her what was making me so happy that day, and finally I just told her. She got all excited and said I was the best friend ever.” A weak smile disappeared as soon as it had appeared. “The last thing she ever said to me was that she’d pretend to be surprised when her uncle showed it to her.”

Fenton felt his heart drop as he saw Gyro’s eyes well up and heard his voice catch in his throat.

“I didn’t think she’d try to fly it,” the inventor whimpered, sounding more vulnerable than he ever had. “I even told her it wasn’t finished!” He screwed his eyes shut. “I was so stupid. I should have known she’d have….”

His fingers around his beak curled into a quivering fist. “It’s my fault she’s gone.”   
  
Not knowing what to do, Fenton watched as Gyro tried his hardest not to break down. He appeared frozen in front of him, looking down at his feet and holding his hand over his beak as if to muffle any pained sounds that might slip out. Seeing him like that hurt Fenton’s soul, especially since he knew he was the type of guy to hide his emotions unless he was at a point in which he absolutely couldn’t. The memories of this incident seemed to have pushed him toward that point.    
  
Finally deciding to break the silence, the duck gulped before speaking. “Gyro, it’s still not your fault. You were only doing what Mr. McDuck told you to. Well, that is until you told her, but….” He stopped for a moment, realizing that he was definitely saying the wrong thing again. “You didn’t know she’d take it.”   
  
Gyro didn’t reply. Instead he kept his stance, not moving a muscle. Fenton was starting to feel sick.   
  
That was when he found his eyes falling on the duffle bag on the floor, which contained the Gizmoduck suit. Suddenly, Gyro’s earlier actions began to make sense, and a cloud of dread found itself settling in Fenton’s stomach. The inventor wasn’t trying to hold him back from his full potential as he’d previously thought.    
  
“You care about me.”   
  
The words came tumbling out of Fenton’s bill before he could stop them, and when he saw Gyro whip around to face him at last, face just as confused and hurt as he’d imagined it, he regretted the impulsive statement. 

“I-I mean, you just don’t want something like that to happen ever again,” Fenton clarified. “And I don’t blame you for it! What happened before was  _ awful... _ but you have to trust me when I say I think I know what I’m doing. And I think you know what you’re doing too. I mean, as an inventor.”

Gyro gave a questionable glare to Fenton.

“You were way younger than I was when you built that rocket. And now that you’re older, and you’ve gone through so many different inventions, both successes and failures, without looking back, you have more experience under your belt.” Fenton rubbed at his neck. “I mean, if you made the armor back when you made the rocket, I don’t think I’d be trying to use it. But...well, you’re better than you were before, and I trust you.”

Gyro kept a blank stare on Fenton for several seconds, then flickered his gaze to the ground at the duffel bag, then to the duck again.

“You end up in the hospital again, and this is going straight to the incinerator, understand?”   
  
Although the situation still didn’t seem settled, and Fenton knew it likely wouldn’t be for a long time if ever, the other’s words were enough to put a small grin on his bill. “I understand! I’ll try to be more careful, Dr. Gearloose.”   
  
The chicken scoffed, rolling his eyes. “You know you don’t have to call me that anymore, right? Just Gyro will suffice.”   
  
“O-Oh!” Fenton was surprised by the statement but nodded in approval nonetheless. “Of course, Gyro!” He gave a wider smile, and he could’ve sworn that for a moment, he saw a hint of one of Gyro’s beak as well. However, it didn’t last.   
  
“Now, isn’t there something you need to be working on?” he asked, heading over to his desk.

“Right!”, Fenton laughed awkwardly and clumsily hurried over to his desk, soon finding himself deeply buried in his own projects. But for the rest of the day, and the days that followed, he couldn’t help but notice the fixated stare Gyro had on him every time he called for the armor. And every time, he would tell himself to make sure it and himself came back in one piece.   
  
  


   
  
  


  
  
  
  



End file.
